Kaitag Dictionary §

This dictionary documents Kaitag through direct work with native speakers, building the foundation for the language's digitization and standardization. Yet, what is captured here is only a fraction of what needs to be preserved across the Kaitag villages and regions, and the work continues. Securing the language's future will take both community effort and academic support.

The dictionary is available in four formats:

• Urssivar.com — easy access on any device
• PDF document — local storage and printing
• Google Sheets — data analysis and linguistic research
• GitHub repository — source data and JSON export for computational work

Note: The dictionary is being updated toward v1.1. For a stable version, use the PDF or Google Sheets above.

Entry Structure §

Each entry includes a headword, grammatical tags, and definitions. Grammatical forms are included where relevant. Definitions may carry usage notes and examples. Some entries also include a note and etymology. Where applicable, dialect variants (~) and derived-from («) / see-also (+) links are shown.

The first tag always indicates part of speech, with forms listed accordingly:

• Nouns (n): absolutive headword (тӏу́пп "finger"), oblique (тӏуппу́-), plural (тӏиппе́ "fingers"). May be inherently plural (pl) or include an irregular locative (һә́жни "on Hajj").
• Verbs (v): imperfective infinitive (кабирга́ра "to be sitting"), with optional perfective (кабига́ра "to sit") and preterite (ка́бижив "sat").
• Adjectives (adj): may include adverbial form with stress shift (бухха́р "cold" → бу́ххал "coldly").
• Cardinal numerals (num): headword (чӏвел "two"), oblique (чӏул-), and stem (чӏу-).

Other parts of speech include adverbs (adv), conjunctions (conj), prepositions (prep), postpositions (postp), interjections (interj), pronouns (pron), copulas (cop), particles (part), and determiners (det). Some of these categories are assigned loosely and may not reflect precise grammatical classification.

Words may also carry a grammatical class (cls), labeled with the neuter -б- (биҡна́ "old").

Phonetics & Orthography §

The modern Kaitag Cyrillic alphabet was developed in 2024–2026. It consists of 24 letters from the Russian alphabet (excluding Ёё, Фф, Щщ, Ъъ, Ыы, Ьь, Ээ, Юю, Яя), 6 extended Cyrillic letters (Әә, Ғғ, Ҡҡ, Ҳҳ, Һһ, Ӏӏ), and 12 digraphs (doubled geminates and ejectives with the palochka).

Useful resources:

• Video presentation "Evolving the Kaitag script" on YouTube (in Russian)
• Character set in the Paratype language reference
• Mobile keyboards Yandex Keyboard and Google Gboard
• Automatic text converter Yaziv
• Technical specification on GitHub

Consonants §

Plain stops and affricates are aspirated: /pʰ/ п, /tʰ/ т, /tsʰ/ ц, /tʃʰ/ ч, /kʰ/ к, /qʰ/ ҡ.

The digraphs пв /ɸ/, ву /w/, and гҳ /ɣ/ appear only in onomatopoeia. The phonemes /ħ/ хӏ, /ʡ/ гӏ, and /uˤ/ ю appear in dialectal forms.

Following a non-sonorant consonant, the letter в usually marks labialization rather than a separate sound: чӏвел /tʃʼʷel/ "two", швел /ʃʷel/ "five".

Some varieties lose gemination syllable-finally, but it is restored before vowels and consistently preserved in spelling:

• миҡҡ [миҡ] "wedding" → ми́ҡҡи "at wedding"
• лукка́на "to give" → лу́ккне [лукне] "giving (masd.)"

Geminate fricatives vary considerably between villages and require further study. They are not listed in the alphabet as distinct letters, but appear mainly intervocalically (ни́шша "you (pl.)") and word-initially (сса "yesterday").

Vowels §

The labialized segment ва /ʷa/ is spelled о for convenience:

• гон [гван] "like"
• берко́на [берквана] "to eat"

Unlike Russian, е /e/ is always pure vowels and й /j/ is always written explicitly:

• йулға́н /julʁan/ "quilt"
• йети́м /jetim/ "orphan"
• е́тти /etːi/ "to you"
• еркӏ /eɾkʼ/ "river"

Stress is contrastive and always marked on headwords: һана́ "currently" vs һа́на "plate".

Spelling Conventions §

Sonorant assimilation at morpheme boundaries is not reflected in spelling:

• чӏве́л "two" → чӏве́л-ра [чӏверра] "both"
• ази́р "thousand" → ази́рна [азинна] "a thousand times"
• у́ле "eye", уле́н- (OBL) → уле́нла [уленна] "of eye"

Directional (ка-, һа-, ца-) and negative (а-, ма-) prefixes shift to ә /æ/ or е /e/ before roots with those vowels:

• бел "still is" → а́бел [ебел] "no more"
• бертта́ра "to rip" → цабертта́ра [цеберттара] "to tear"
• бәҡа́ра "to wound" → һабәҡа́ра [һәбәҡара] "to kick"

The causative suffixes -их, -ух, -әх assimilate to the following vowel in most varieties:

• бара́ра "to do" → бариха́ра [барахара] "to force to do"
• биһо́ра "to be" → биһуха́ра [биһахара] "to let be, to make"
• бә́рғур "dried" → бә́рғәхур [бәрғухур] "made dry"

Morphologically separate words are written with spaces regardless of lexicalization degree:

• миг бәрӏи́в "ice-cold"
• йәһ акко́р "unscrupulous"
• ча йел "somebody"

This extends to compound verbs as well, though it may seem unexpected. Three tests support the spacing — negation insertion, stress position, and short-answer behavior:

• ул бета́ра "to look" → ул а́бетур "didn't look"
• чи бага́ра "to see" → чи ба́живде у? ба́живда "did you see? I did"
• чер цабирһо́ра "to return" → чер ма́цирһотте "don't return"

The conventions described in this section prioritize consistency, predictability, and transparency at this early stage. A proper orthographic system for Kaitag remains important work ahead.

Version History §

Maintained by Magomedov M. T. from Turaga village. For questions, suggestions, or reports — +7 999 533-93-50, alkaitagi@outlook.com.

v1.1 (2026, in progress): In collaboration with Gasanov M. R. from Kirki village. Data organized as an open repository with editorial guidelines and tooling. Enriching entries with cross-references, usage examples, semantic tags, aliases, etymologies, and notes. Migrated to Kaitag script v1.2.

v1.0 (May 2025): In collaboration with prof. Gasanova U. U., based on her dissertation's Shilyagi village wordlist (2012). Includes accented headwords, grammatical forms, POS tags, and dialectal variants. Additional references: Temirbulatova S. M. (2004, 2008, 2021), Gabibova K. M. (2009). Spoken introduction: "Meet the Kaitag Dictionary" (in Russian).